680 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



they played evidently varied, and Romans is undoubtedly correct in 

 saying that they agi^ed in advance what it was to be. Thus Bossu 

 mentions 16 points, Cushman 10 to 20, Halbert and Starr 12, and Cat- 

 lin 100. We are also informed that tliey sometimes played all day 

 without reaching the number agreed upon, when the side which had 

 scored the most points would be adjudged the winner. Ho v, ever, Hal- 

 bert stated that a game sometimes lasted 2 days. Some of the old men 

 superintended the preparations, and Catlin tells us that, in the game 

 he witnessed, four medicine men acted as judges. A medicine man, 

 probably one of these, threw the ball up at the center to start the 

 game, after which the side which made a goal had the privilege of 

 putting the ball in play again. Nothing more is said regarding the 

 officials. There are said to have been three principal squads formed 

 by the men on each side, one at either goal, and one in the center, the 

 other players being scattered about. Players could run with the ball 

 held between their sticks or throw it. As among the other tribes, the 

 play was violent and mam^ injuries resulted. The wagers were made 

 on the morning of the game and all weapons had to be left in the 

 respective encampments. According to one informant almost any 

 sort of action on the part of the players was permitted except butting 

 with the head, which cost the party of the offender five goals. Dur- 

 ing the progress of the game, the women ran about serving the men 

 of their side with coffee or whipping up those that seemed slothful. 



Bossu says that when the women played this game they used rack- 

 ets with curved handles. The women's game of which Halbert 

 speaks, played with sticks and balls like the game of battledore and 

 shuttlecock, may have been descended from that (Swanton, 1931 a, 

 pp. 140-151). 



There was a variety of this game in which only the hands were 

 employed, the ball being larger, and it was connected apparently 

 with football. Thus, among the Creeks we hear of a game in which 

 the men and women played against one another, the men being 

 obliged to kick the ball while the women could use both hands and 

 feet (Swanton, 1928, p. 468). The Chickasaw called this towacto- 

 coli and seem to have played it in the same manner. The games were 

 for 12 points and continued for 4 days, after which a feast was held. 

 The Chickasaw also had a game called akabatle in which they used 

 a ball as big as a baseball propelled along the ground by means of 

 bent sticks. The goal was made of 3-foot posts placed 2 feet apart, 

 and the bent sticks recall the Choctaw game mentioned by Bossu, 

 except that the latter was played by women against women, whereas 

 in the former men and women were opponents. As in the other, they 

 played for 12 points (Swanton, 1928 c, p. 244). Romans tells us of a 

 game played promiscuously by men and women in which they used 



